Improvement in brakes for carriages



'B. F. LEET.

Car Brake.

Patented Dec. 4 28. 1869.

N. PETERS. Phom-Lilhugmpher. wzihmmnn, 0.6.

hitched swat BENJAMIN r. Lennon DAYTON, NEVADA,

Lam Patent No. 98,277, dated December 28, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT III BRAKES FOR CARRIAG-ES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part ofthesame.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. LEET, ofDayton, in the county of Lyon, and State of Nevada, have invented a newand improved Brake for Vehicles and Machinery; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof,which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same,reference being bad to the accompanying drawing,- forming part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in brakes for car,wagon, and other revolving wheels.

The invention comprises a mode of suspending and operating thebrake-shoes, or the arms on which they swing, by knuckle-jointed links,to the middle joint of which a sliding bar is attached, and operatedeither by a; toothed pinion and hand-shaft or 'by an o'scillating shaft,hand-lei-'er and'eccentrics, for imparting the reciprocatingmotion forworking'the said knucklejointed links. The said links, as also thejointed arms by which the brake-shoes are suspended, are arranged foradjustment, for varying the position of the shoes relatively to theperiphery of the wheel.

'Figurel represents a longitudinal sectional elevation of a truck withmy improved brake-apparatus attached, the sliding bar for operating theknucklejointed links being arranged for operation by a toothed wheel andhand-shaft.

Figure 2 represents a plan of the bottom of the same.

Figure 3 represents a longitudinal sectional elevation of 'a car,showing the application of the same, the sliding bar being arranged foroperation by an. oscillating shaft and hand-lever, and eccentrics.

Figure4rcpresents a partial cross-section of fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding arts.

p A is the brake-shoe, suspended on the shaft B, traversing the vehicle,so as to support a shoe for each of the opposite wheels, and mounted onthe swinging ends of the arms 0, jointed to any fixed support above thehorizontal plane of the axle of the wheels, as at D, so that in swingingdownward, the paths of the shoes will cross the rims of the wheels,whereby, when they come together, they will look, by the action of thefrictional contact of the wheel with the shoe, and the gravity of thelatter, in a way to suddenly arrest the motion of the wheels, withoutthe application of any other force.

The shaft B, inv the case of the application to vehicles, and the shoe,when applied singly to other wheels, must be suspended from above, bysome,

meansfor letting the shoes down into contact with the wheels, and forraising them again, when they are not required to be in action.

The means which I have adopted consists of a pair of knuckle-jointedlinks, E F, with a sliding bar, G,

connected to the central joint for moving into a vertical line, forlowering the shoes, and for drawing them out of the vertical lineforraising'the same.

The link F is connected to the adjustable bolt H, passing up through theplatform, and havingadjusting-nuts above and below.

The arms G are connected to similar adj ustin g-bol ts, passing throughthe supports 0.

In the application to vehicles, I use two sliding bars --G, one to eachset of knuckle-joints, and so shape them, when operated by a pinion andhand-shaft, that the ends acted on by the pinion are brought nearlytogether, as represented in fig. 2, and joined by bolts I.

' K represent gear-teeth, placed on one of the said bars.

L is the pinion, gearing with the same, and mounted on a verticalhand-shaft, M, with a hand-wheel on the top. Y

The shaft M is provided with a ratchet-wheel, N, in which a pawl, O,fixed to the car-body, works to hold the shoes out of action.

In some cases, I propose to actuate these bars (I by eccentrics I, on anoscillating shaft, Q, provided with a-hand-lever, R, which lever mayhave curved, slotted, and notched guards S, into the notches of whichthe lever may spring at the end of each movement, being thereby held tomaintain the brakes either in or out of action, and an eccentric roller,'1, may be provided for pressing the spring-lever out of the notches. Orthe lever may be arranged to be pressed into and maintained in thenotches by the eccentric, and to spring out of them, when the roller isturned away. i

The position of the brake-shoes is intended to he so that they will bearfully on the wheels, when .the knuckle-links stand in the vertical line,and I propose to so arrange the sliding bars G, figs. 1 and .2, thatwhen thus standing in the vertical line, the bolt I, at the endsthereof, will strike against the pinion, and arrest the further movementin that direction. eccentrics will also be adjusted so as to moveknuckle-jointed links only to the vertical line.

It is designed that the parts shall be so adjusted,

that when the pawl Q is disconnected from the ratchetwheel, or the leverfrom the notch in the guard S, whereby the brake is held out of action,the shoes will instantly and self-actingly engage the wheels, and arrestthe motion.

In the application to railroad-cars, the brakeman or engineer, havingthe hand-wheel and shaft 01' lever It within reach, will be able to stopthe wheels at once, or he may graduate the force of the pressure on. the

wheels with great exactness; for if bars G be restrained from goingback, the full action on the wheels will be prevented. I

I propose, in some cases, to extend the bars G along the bottom of thecars to the buffers, and projecting therefrom, so that when the carscome together, the said bars will be moved back, to set the brakes inoperation. This may be done in connection with the hand-shaft andpinion, the pawl being kept out of action with the ratchet-wheel N.

Having thus described my invention,

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. Thecombination, with the brake-shoe, suspended as described, of theknuckle-jointed links, and actuating-bars connected thereto, andprovided with means for operating them, substantially as specified.

\Vitnesses:

GEO. W. MABEE, ALEX. F. ROBERTS.

